In Supreme Court Immunity Case, Trump Can Lose in Ways That Amount to a Win
Most legal experts say that former President Donald J. Trump will face deep skepticism at the Supreme Court on Thursday, when the justices will hear arguments on his claim that he is absolutely immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to subvert the 2020 election.
Mr. Trump would prefer to win, of course. But there are, from his perspective, at least two attractive ways to lose.
One involves the timing of the court’s decision, which has received substantial attention given the relatively leisurely pace it has set for itself in the case. Even if Mr. Trump eventually and categorically loses, each passing week makes it more challenging for Jack Smith, the special counsel in the case, to complete the trial before the election.
The other, which has received less consideration but is no less important, is the possibility that the court’s ruling, even if issued promptly, will inject additional legal complications into the case that will take time to sort out.
That is what happened in 2020, when another case involving Mr. Trump reached the justices just months before a presidential election. The question was similar to the one the court will consider on Thursday: whether Mr. Trump was entitled to a form of absolute presidential immunity allowing him to block prosecutors from obtaining his tax records.
In July 2020, Mr. Trump lost the case. But the loss was a kind of victory. The court sent the case back to the lower courts for more analysis, running out the clock.